The History of Suffolk site

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History of Suffolk

SUFFOLK, one of the largest English shires, is a seaboard county on the
east coast, and derives its name from having been occupied by the South folk of
the East English, who established their kingdom here; the North folk occupying
the other part of the kingdom, whence its name of Norfolk. Suffolk is of a
half-moon shape, joining on to the south of the oval of Norfolk. Its seacoast is
low, and forms its eastern and south-eastern border. On the north it is divided
from Norfolk by the Yare; Waveney, and Little Ouse; on the west the Lark divides
it from Cambridgeshire; and on the south the Stour is the boundary against
Essex. The greatest length is near 70 miles, and the greatest breadth is 52
miles, the area being reckoned at 1,515 square miles and 918, 760 acres.

The country is chiefly of diluvial formation, running up to chalk in the
north-west, and with districts of Norfolk crag and London clay. The shore is low
and marshy, and defended by sandbanks and crag cliffs. The rivers afford much
convenience for agricultural purposes and for navigation. The northern districts
are supplied by the Waveney and the Yare, navigable from Bungay, and running by
Beccles to the sea at Yarmouth, which is the chief port for North Suffolk,
though a good deal of traffic is carried on by the Lake Lothing, cut from the
Waveney to Lowestoft, which is one of the most rising ports on the coast. The
north-eastern district is watered by the Little Ouse, Lark, and Linnet, which
are feeders of the Great Ouse, and run down to the port of Lynn. The southern
border is supplied by the Stour, which is navigable from Sudbury, and runs to
the port of Harwich. The Orwell, or Gipping, which joins the estuary of the
Stour, runs by Ipswich to the middle of the county at Stowmarket, to which place
it is navigable. Further north the Debden runs a navigable course for some miles
up the country to Woodbridge, but its springs are as far up as Debenham. The
Alde, or Ore, is a small winding river, of which Orford is the port. The Blyth
is a small navigable river in the north, running up to Halesworth, and of which
Southwold is the port. Thus most of the towns in Suffolk have river navigation,
and there is hardly a part of the country 10 miles from a navigable stream.
Harwich is a useful port, and so are those of Ipswich, Lowestoft, and Yarmouth;
Woodbridge, Orford, Aldborough, and Southwold are of minor importance, but none
of the havens on this coast can be considered first class, being so much
obstructed by banks and shifting sands. For East Suffolk the chief places of
trade are Harwich, Ipswich, Lowestoft, and Yarmouth, the first and last places
lying out of the shire. Aldborough, Southwold, Felixstow and Lowestoft are
frequented as watering-places, and many of the small towns on the coast are
fishing stations.
The railway communication has hitherto been afforded by two chief lines, the
Cambridge line, with a branch to Newmarket and Bury St. Edmund's, giving a
communication to Brandon and West Suffolk, and so to Norwich; the Colchester
line, and the Eastern Union, accommodating Ipswich and the eastern parts,
including branches to Maldon, Braintree, Harwich, Sudbury, Hadleigh, and Bury,
running through the middle of the shire, and by means of the Lowestoft branch
reaching the north-eastern parts, and from Marks Tey, through Sudbury to Bury .
The East Suffolk line of railway, from Lowestoft and Yarmouth (via Beccles and
Halesworth), joins the Eastern Union at Woodbridge, to London, which
considerably shortens the route from London to Lowestoft and the south-eastern
parts of the county. The Waveney valley branch, from Tivetshall via Bungay,
joins the East Suffolk at Beccles. All over the district are numerous good
turnpike roads.
The tillage of Suffolk is in a high Condition, though the soil generally is not
what would be called rich, and is susceptible of great improvement. It is
estimated that there are about 40,000 acres of rich loam, 80,000 acres of marsh
land, 450,000 acres of a heavy loam or wet clay, 150,000 acres of sand on a
subsoil of crag and occasionally rich, and 100,000 acres of poor sand, on chalk.
The tillage, of course, varies according to the nature of the soil ; but the
Suffolk farmers, in all departments, bear a high character for practical and
scientific skill. The makers of agricultural implements have great reputation at
Ipswich, Bury St. Edmund's, and Stowmarket; at the latter place are extensive
chemical manure manufactories, paper and gun cotton works, and brick making;
malting is carried on there very extensively.
Suffolk is chiefly under tillage, but the breeds of horses and pigs have some
fame. The productions are cement stone (for Roman cement), lime, marl,
whitening, bricks, gun-flints, salt, corn, horses, cattle, a poor cheese,
butter, malt, hops, beer, &c. The manufactures are at Sudbury and Beccles, and
are small, but include silk, velvet, flax, linen, woollen, bunting, horsehair,
etc.; and the fisheries are on a narrow scale, chiefly sprats and herrings.
Lowestoft is the chief fishing town, and supplies the London market,
Suffolk is in the Norfolk circuit, and is divided for electoral purposes Into
East and West Suffolk. It is also divided into the Geldable portions, or
portions in which the king holds the chief rights, and the Franchises, in which
the lords have the chief right, of issues and forfeitures. The franchises arc
those of St. Etheldred, including- the hundreds of Carlsford, Colneis, Loes,
Plomesgate, Thredling and Wilford; St. Edmund's, including the hundreds of
Babergh, Blackbourn, Cosford, Lackford, Risbridge, Thedwestry, and Thingoe, nnd
the half hundred of Ixning; and the Dukedom of Norfolk, including scattered
manors and parishes, his chief territories in these parts being in Norfolk. The
sessions for St. Edmund's are held at Bury, and for St. Ethelred at Woodbridge.
St. Edmund's was the territory of the great abbey at Bury and it still returns a
separate grand jury at the assizes. The Duke of Norfolk appoints a coroner and
returns all writs in his franchise.
Assizes are held at Bury and Ipswich alternately, and quarter sessions are held
for each division at Bury, Ipswich, Beccles, and Woodbridge. At the two former
towns arc county gaols; at the two latter houses of correction. There are
borough prisons at Ipswich, Bury, Sudbury, Eye, Southwold, Aldborough, and
Orford; but most of these are little used, particularly since the diminution of
arrests for debt. Each division of the county returns two members to Parliament,
as do also the boroughs of Ipswich and Bury, but Eye returns only one member.
Sudbury has been disfranchised. Orford, Aldborough, and Dunwich were
disfranchised by the Reform Bill. Ipswich is the election place for East
Suffolk, which includes the hundreds of Blything, Bosmere and Claydon, Carlford,
Colneis, Hoxne, Loes, Lothingland, Mutford, Plomesgate, Samford, Thredling,
Wangford, and Wilford; the polling places are Beccles, Framlingham, Halesworth,
Ipswich, Lowestoft, Needham, Saxmundham, Stradbroke and Woolbridge. Bury is the
election place for West Suffolk, which is formed by the hundreds of Babergh,
Blackbourn, Cosford, Hartismere, Lackford, Risbridge, Stow, Thedwestry, and
Thingoe; the polling places are Bury St. Edmund's, Botesdale, Clare, Hadleigh,
Lavenham, Mildenhall, Stowmarket, Sudbury and Wickham brook.
The number of parishes is about 520. mostly in the diocese of Norwich and
archdeaconry of Suffolk, but some are in the archdeaconry of Sudbury and diocese
of Ely.
The chief towns are Ipswich in the east, a flourishing seaport, shire town, and
borough, with 37,950 inhabitants; Bury St. Edmund's in the west, an inland
capital and shire town, with 13,318 inhabitants; Lowestoft, a considerable
shipping and fishing haven in the north, with about 10,663 people; Sudbury, a
borough in the south-west, with 6,879 people and some manufacturers; Beccles,
with 4,266, and Bungay, with 3,805 people, in the north, considerable
manufacturing towns; Southwold, on the sea-shore, a fishing and bathing place,
with 2,032 people; Woodbridge, a haven in the south, with 4,513 people;
Stowmarket, a town, with 3,531 people; Eye, a borough in the north, with 2,430
people; Hadleigh, a town in the south, with 2,779 people. Orford, Clare,
Debenham, Framlingham, Halesworth, Lavenham, Mildenhall, Saxmundham, Brandon,
Haverhill, and Nayland are small country towns. Ipswich. Bury, and Lowestoft are
the only towns of note, and as the manufactures are on a limited scale, and the
trade confined to the sale and shipment of agricultural produce, the towns are
generally small.

The County Lunatic Asylum is situated at Melton: it was formerly a house
of industry for the Loes and Wilford hundreds, and was purchased by the county
magistrates in 1827, and opened in 1829 for the reception of pauper lunatics:
its average number of patients is about 270. F. G. Doughty, Esq., chairman of
the house committee; John Kirkman, M.D., resident physician; S. N. Davis, Esq.,
assistant medical officer; Rev. T. W. Hughes, chaplain; Mr. Pizey, clerk; George
Durrant, house steward.
The County Gaol is an extensive building at Southgate, Bury St. Edmund's: it was
erected in 1803, at an expense of £30,000, and is calculated to contain 140
prisoners, with a separate bed for each. Harvey Aston Oakes, Esq., treasurer;
Rev. Edward Cornish Wells, M.A., chaplain; Charles Smith, Esq., P.R.C.8.,
surgeon; Patrick McIntyre, governor.
The Suffolk General Hospital, at Bury St. Edmund's, originally an armoury, is a
plain but commodious structure, in an open and healthful situation: established,
1826; enlarged, 1846; rebuilt, 1864, at a cost of £13,000. Right Hon. The Earl
of Stradbroke, president; William Robert Bevan and Peter Huddleston, Esqrs.,
treasurers; Rev. Alfred John Perry, B.A., chaplain; John W. Goodwin, Esq.,
physician; Harry Fuller, house surgeon; William Gross, secretary ; Miss Ann
Musgrave, matron.
County Police.—Eastern Division: John Hatton, Esq., Saxmundham, chief constable.
Western Division: Capt. F. C. Syer, RN., Bury St. Edmund's, chief constable.
Coroners for the County.—F. B. Marriott, Stowmarket (for the North-Eastern
district); B. L. Gross, Ipswich (for the South-Eastern district); E. Lawrance,
Ipswich (for the Duke of Norfolk's liberty); C. C. Brooke, Woodbridge (for St.
Etheldred's liberty); G. A. Partridge, Bury St. Edmund's (for Bury St. Edmund's
liberty).
Members of Parliament.— East Suffolk: Lord Henniker, Thornham hall, Eye, and
Worlingworth hall, Framlingham, Suffolk, and 6 Grafton street, Bond street,
London W; and Sir Fitz-Roy Kelly, Q.C, The Chauntry, Ipswich; and Connaught place
W, 2 King's Bench walk, Temple EC, and Carlton club, London SW. West Suffolk:
Major Windsor Parker, Clopton hall, Rattlesden; 20 Duke street, St. James's SW,
and Carlton club, London SW; and Lord Augustus Henry Charles Hervey, Ickworth,
Suffolk, and St. James's square, London.

The historical trade directory and census listing of all of London, Essex, Kent, Suffolk, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Sussex, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire
Oxfordshire, and Dorset. If you are searching for a historical address, try the census and street directory database. This is a Victorian view on the streets of london and the south of England.

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And Last updated on: Monday, 07-Feb-2011 22:35:08 GMT